Following an investigation by the Washington Attorney General’s Office into discriminatory hiring practices and misleading job advertisements to local farmworkers, King Fuji Ranch has agreed to reform its employment practices and pay $180,000 in penalties.
Attorney General Nick Brown filed a resolution with the company in Benton County Superior Court, ending the investigation and avoiding litigation. King Fuji Ranch, which grows apples and wine grapes in central Washington, is operated by Michael Taggares, who also owns Tagaris Wines.
Under the legally binding agreement, King Fuji must change its hiring practices to prevent the unlawful displacement of local workers in favor of foreign H-2A visa workers. The company will also adopt a nondiscrimination policy, subject to review and approval by the Attorney General’s Office, and provide training for the next five years to employees and supervisors on civil rights and consumer protection laws. Once approved by a judge, the agreement will become an enforceable court order.
“Employers cannot discriminate against willing, available local workers in order to abuse foreign visa programs,” said Attorney General Brown. “The Attorney General’s Office will protect farmworkers in Washington state from employers that break the law.”
Andrea Schmitt, an attorney with Columbia Legal Services, which brought the allegations to the Attorney General’s Office, emphasized the importance of the case. “Growers who use the H-2A program are required to show a real labor shortage before they can bring in foreign workers,” she said. “In reality, we often see growers deceiving local farmworkers to avoid hiring them because the growers prefer H-2A workers who can’t change jobs regardless of working conditions. We are grateful to the Attorney General’s Office for standing up to King Fuji, a grower that was unlawfully pushing local farmworkers aside.”
The H-2A program allows employers to hire foreign agricultural workers only when they can demonstrate a shortage of qualified, willing U.S. workers. It is not intended to give employers the freedom to bypass domestic labor protections or favor more vulnerable foreign workers who may be less aware of their rights.
Between 2016 and 2019, King Fuji allegedly told local farmworkers that three months of tree fruit experience were required for jobs in thinning, training, pruning, and harvesting apples and grapes. However, the company gave its H-2A labor recruiter in Mexico a different set of criteria—reportedly asking for married men under 35 and omitting any mention of the three-month experience requirement.
The Attorney General’s Office concluded that hiring male H-2A workers while excluding local male and female workers amounted to sex and national origin discrimination. The deceptive job requirements given to local applicants also violated the state’s Consumer Protection Act.
The case was handled by Assistant Attorneys General Patricio Marquez, Teri Healy, and Matt Geyman, with investigators Alma Poletti and Rebecca Pawul, and paralegal Anna Alfonso.
For more information:
Wing Luke Civil Rights Division
Tel: +1 360 753 2727
Email: [emailprotected]
www.atg.wa.gov
